..in Ramallah as the news is full of rocket strikes between Gaza and Israel. The evening went like this:

Someone is watching the World Cup on TV, cringing because Brasil is losing.

Someone else is on Facebook, scrolling through photos of a peaceful demonstration for Gaza hours ago in Ramallah's main square, saying "oh we missed it, we should have gone."

Someone from overseas calls to say, "is it like it's being reported? did a rocket land in Jerusalem? did sirens go off?"

We check the news. It mentions a rocket. We call family in Jerusalem. They didn't hear the sirens going off but neighbors did.The news updates to say a rocket did explode. No injuries.

In Gaza, there are over 15 dead. In other parts of the West Bank, reports of small clashes, Israel settlers vs Palestinian villages, Palestinian villages vs Israel military camps.

Earlier, we sat in an office, 9 of us, and wrote stories and plays and poetry and talked of doing a group project, inner self as landscape.

Before that, I got lost, for a good half hour, in Ramallah's main square and the woman who helped me find my way turned out to be from the Ministry of Culture. She helped me into a group cab that made a special stop to drop me in front of the theater.Before that, I took Arabic lessons and learned that if it's a noun, the possessive ending goes at the end of the word like "Essmi" - "my name." The "i" makes it mine.